by Ian Woodhead
Phil slowly climbed down the ladders, and the sewers were now pitch black. He wished that he had brought a torch. Hell, he’d given up smoking a few months back, so he didn’t even have a lighter on him.
“This is just so much bollocks,” he muttered. Phil reached the floor and groaned when he landed in a puddle of freezing water. “Where the fuck do I go now?” He stiffened and grabbed the rungs when he heard the sound of something growling close by.
Chapter Fourteen
Caroline Hardy balanced the vodka bottle and tuna sandwich in one hand as she reached for the living room door. “Oh, you sneaky little bugger!” she cried as the sandwich slipped out of her hand. The bread and contents splattered across the kitchen tiles. Caroline sighed; she opened the door, stepped over the mess, and strode towards her work desk. The sandwich catastrophe could stay on the floor for all she cared. Caroline was just thankful that it wasn’t the vodka that had slipped out of her hand.
“What would it matter?” She turned and stared at the floor, imagining if she would have left it there if it had been smashed glass and vodka spread across the tiles. She shrugged, and knowing how she felt, the answer would probably be yes. After all, there was still one more bottle hidden at the back of the cupboard, kept there for emergencies, just like this one.
“Fuck them all,” she whispered. Oh yeah, this was an emergency all right, her emotional well-being was officially shot to shit today.
Caroline looked over to the phone, noticing that she hadn’t bothered to replace the receiver. Just like the mess on the kitchen floor, there now didn’t seem to be any point in taking the time and effort. Hell, it is not as if he was going to ring her up and explain that it had all been a huge mix up.
“He had enjoyed telling me that,” she muttered, reaching for the bottle. “Oh yeah, that bloody Andy had certainly got off on my sister’s death alright.” She caught her reflection in the bottle, and it occurred to her that she had not shed one tear since that copper had gleefully told her that her brother-in-law had killed April.
“I’m not really grieving, that’s why.” She prised off the cap. “I’m just going through the motions.”
Caroline had never been able to stand the bitch, and if she searched her feelings, she found that she was happy April was finally out of her life.
“No, no way. Fuck that, I do not believe that!” Caroline got the cap off the bottle and poured herself a generous measure, doing her best to keep her hand steady. She put the bottle back on the desk and fell in her chair. “No, it’s not really true,” she whispered.
She gazed in despair at the untidy pile of workbooks on the desk in front of her. She should have marked these at school, but Caroline didn’t wish to spend more time than necessary at that horrible place. The last job she wanted to do right now was to go through these books. The desire to just take this bottle, collect the other one, and lock herself in her bedroom sounded like the best idea in the universe.
“I need to stay focussed.” Caroline drank half the contents of the glass, groaning with pleasure as the liquid burned its way down her throat. Maybe not totally focussed, just enough to remember what planet she was on. Book marking, as tedious as it was, would help Caroline put her confused mind back into some sort of order.
As she picked the first book off the pile, the feel of the cheap wallpaper under her fingertips evoked memories of her time at the school as a pupil. There were some practises in Brutality that were timeless, and the teacher asking the kids to cover their workbooks with wallpaper was one of them.
Caroline placed the book in front of her and ran her fingers down the front, smiling. Their mum had found a spare roll of wallpaper in the attic, and Caroline remembered squealing with excitement at the sight of the paper. She hadn’t seen that pattern for years. Their parents had decorated her bedroom three years previously, mainly due to April’s insistence that eleven-year-old girls do NOT have teddy bear wallpaper in their room anymore.
What April demanded, she usually got. Her sister has refused to cover her book with what she had described as childish rubbish; instead, she had chosen the cover of some teen magazine. April had always tried to gain the upper hand in every situation. She had completely dominated Caroline’s life whilst growing up.
She drained her glass and poured herself another measure. Caroline then took a swig from the bottle. April hadn’t gained the upper hand in every situation though. The delicious memory of discovering that Caroline had managed to pass her teaching qualifications and her sister hadn’t passed any of them came flooding back.
“A bitter victory,” she murmured.
Caroline opened the workbook and squinted at the pages of tiny incomprehensible writing. She squeezed her eyes shut, and then opened them. It was no good; she hadn’t drunk enough of the vodka to turn the words into something that she could understand. Caroline flipped through the beginning of the workbook and stared at the rest of the pages in confusion. The presentation for the girl’s previous assignments was beautiful. It was as if somebody else had written her work today. Caroline leaned closer and sighed in resignation as the words focused into legibility. The girl had filled four pages with just three words. She’d written ‘fuck you Caroline’ in microscopic writing.
“Oh, you are so hilarious.” She drew a large red X on all the four pages then dropped the book on the floor.
Both sisters had shared the dream of becoming teachers ever since leaving primary school; apart from having opposing personalities, it was one trait that shared. Caroline might have been the only sister to achieve her dream, but the reality was nothing like she had imagined.
Being a teacher was probably the closest that she ever got to interacting with normal people in this diseased town. The kids in Brutality didn’t start to get really mean until their hormones kicked in. Caroline picked the next book off the pile. Her job had not been that bad a few years ago, but back then she used to teach the primary kids. All that changed when they moved her to the larger school.
The weird and fucking terrifying change had never affected Caroline or April. They weren’t true natives though. Their family had relocated to Brutality when the sisters were only two years old.
“This is a very bad town,” she whispered.
Caroline stood up and walked over to the kitchen; this was no good, she really did need to put something in her mouth. If she didn’t find anything to soak up the booze in her stomach, she’d be unconscious within an hour. “And that’s a bad thing?” She was only twelve when the first kid in her class went through the change. After that single boy had turned, the rest of the class soon followed suit until only she and April were left. She felt like a lamb in a classroom of wolves. It had been a terrifying experience.
She had learned very quickly that to avoid them singling her out, she had to emulate their vile and disgusting behaviour. Caroline had cried herself to sleep on many of those unforgettable nights. She had been a very bad girl during her teenage years; it was the only way to survive though. She and April weren’t the only non-native children in the town. While most of them had copied the locals, not all the kids were quite so eager. The ones that didn’t commit acts of debauchery disappeared.
Thanks to the drink, Caroline had managed to block out most of her behaviour during that dark period, but she did remember that her sister had been able to fit in a lot easier than Caroline had. Her sister had shown no remorse with feeding rat poison to the dairy cows that grazed in the fields behind their house. April had even laughed along with all their mates when they died one by one. April had been the first sister to join in with their friend in playing the popular game of catching cats and trapping their tails in mousetraps.
She stepped over the mess on the floor and saw the fruit bowl on the end of the counter near the bread bin. “That’ll do,” she said, grabbing an apple. Caroline wandered back to her desk, remembering that April never cried herself to sleep.
“What the fuck am I still doing here? I should have run a
way from this horrible place fucking years ago.” She laughed bitterly. It was strange how Caroline only asked that very important question after she had started to drink. “Welcome to Brutality. You’ll never leave here alive.”
That statement was so true. Once the town had sunk its hooks into your mind and body, it never relinquished its victims.
As the years went by, Caroline had tried to kid herself that she couldn’t leave the town; that she had to stay here for the sake of the kiddies. The poor little blighters needed to experience some piece of normality before whatever was wrong with this town grabbed them and turned every one of the kids into pint-sized monsters.
Caroline took another swig from the bottle then took a bite of her apple. She ran her hand down the front of the workbook in front of her and read the name scrawled in large red letters along the top. Caroline was so tempted to just throw this one straight into the bin. This one belonged to Tony McAllister. She let out a large groan and gulped down another mouthful of vodka,
She filled the glass with what was left from the bottle and dropped the now empty bottle in the bin beside her desk. It was so difficult to stop herself from just dropping the workbook in there as well then staggering back into the kitchen, grabbing that other bottle, and just going to bed. “Are you going to let them beat you, girl?” she slurred.
Tony was the first child in her class this year to have undergone the change. His hormones reared their ugly head just a couple of weeks ago, and he was already becoming more than just a distraction. Caroline had spotted a couple of others in the class who were starting to change as well.
The boy was due to disappear in a few days; she’d already been informed that Tony was due to go on a ‘vacation’ by the head. This always happened when the kid’s behaviour became too unmanageable. The kid would be absent for about a week and then return to class.
The change in their attitude was alarming. Gone was the open defiance, the bouts of violent tempers, and the unpredictable screaming. The returned kids just sat at their desks, kept quiet, and got on with their work. She swigged back a mouthful of vodka to stop her body from shaking when she remembered the dread of gazing into their dead eyes.
The adults, the locals had re-shaped their kid’s minds. Their own parents had conditioned the poor little bastards and taught them how to hide their deviations, how to pass off as normal kids.
“They’re monsters in lamb’s clothing.”
Despite knowing exactly what would welcome her beyond the cover of Tony’s workbook, Caroline still opened it. She shivered again, trying not to feel queasy at the sight of the boy’s crude and grotesque drawing that covered every one of his pages. His illustrations were of what Caroline guessed was Tony, judging by the hock of ginger hair on the drawing. Each figure was naked and proudly displaying his erect genitalia. He had drawn himself in various poses, pushing that monster into some poor woman. Despite the fact that his artistic skills were not that good, it didn’t take much figuring out to see that the woman was supposed to be her.
“Fuck, I really do need to get out of here.” The need to leave this fucked up town had never been greater. Caroline knew she just had to escape before something bad happened to her. Judging by the filth that was going through Tony’s sickened mind, Caroline had a good idea just what was in store for her if she didn’t take notice of her drunken mind.
“Will you just admit it to yourself, woman? They are all lost causes.” She looked at her glass, not realising that she had emptied it. Caroline was close to becoming a lost cause herself. She dropped the glass in the bin followed by Tony’s workbook.
Caroline might have lived in this town for nearly all of her life, but it still wasn’t enough for the others. She wasn’t born in Brutality, and consequently, never felt like she had truly belonged. The natives took great pleasure in reminding her of this fact on a daily basis.
Their closed mouths and refusal to involve her with their lives had not stopped Caroline from hearing of the repeated rumours of strangers coming to Brutality and never leaving, at least not alive or in one piece.
“But I’m not a fucking stranger!” she cried, rubbing her hands over her moist forehead. “I don’t know where else to go.” She gripped her desk, trying to stop the shakes. Oh, God, she was such a fucking mess.
Hell, of course she was a stranger to the natives. It didn’t matter to these people if you had been here for twenty years or twenty minutes. It was about time she woke up to the plain and simple fact that she was wasting her time and effort with these kids. They didn’t need Caroline; the people in Brutality didn’t need anyone.
Caroline jerked up her head. She was sure that she’d just heard the sound of tapping on the window behind her. She scraped back her chair and managed to get up without tripping over her wobbly feet and falling onto the carpet. This vodka really had fucked up her balance. There was nothing there; it was probably just a sparrow head-butting the glass again. She sat back down and automatically picked up another workbook. Her anxiety of staying in this dammed town was already starting to fade as the alcohol made her feel very tired.
The reality of her situation was simple. Sure, Brutality was not the best place to live, but it was her home, and despite the locals never making her feel very welcome, they had at least left her to her own devices. It made logical sense to believe that if they wanted to make her disappear, they would have done it years ago.
At least here, Caroline knew where she stood. Unlike everywhere else in this shitty country, you could at least be guaranteed to be safe at night. “Unless you’re a stranger,” she whispered.
Caroline screamed out in shock when the glass in her patio door exploded inwards, showering fragments across her tiled kitchen floor. She spun around and cried out as Tony McAllister pushed his large body through the now empty doorframe. The youth brushed lumps of glass out of his hair before striding over the Caroline.
“So, this is that your home looks like,” he said, standing over her, with his big hands pressed against his hips. “It’s a bit of a shithole, miss. There’s fucking glass everywhere. Ain’t you a lazy bitch! Don’t you ever clean up?”
She watched three more boys climb through the patio doorframe. They strutted over and stood behind Tony, each one wore a similar smirking face. She knew all three of the other boys. They were a year older than Tony and she vividly remembered their disruptive presence in her classroom last year. Despite the age difference, it was clear that Tony was their leader.
God, it seemed like he’d grown even larger since she’d last seen him yesterday. How was that even possible?
Tony picked the workbook out of the bin. “I see that you have had a look at my drawings.” He grinned, showing off his block-like yellow teeth. “I think they’re pretty good, although I’m a bit upset that you threw my book away.”
Caroline watched another figure climb into her kitchen.
“Andy? Oh god, what the fuck is happening here?”
The man held up a black piece of scuffed material and shook it. The material rolled down to display a selection of kitchen knives. “Don’t just fucking stare at her, Tony. Grab the bitch and hold her down.”
Caroline staggered away from the two men. Her feet then betrayed her and she crashed to the floor. “Please don’t hurt me!” Through blurred eyes, she saw Andy stood at the back; he wasn’t even looking at her. He now had taken one of the knives out of the roll and was running his finger along the blade.
“These knives took away your sister,” he said. “I remember you once saying to me that you wanted everything that your April got.”
The approaching boy took a deep breath. “You embarrassed me in front of my mates last week, miss. I did not find that very funny. I got my own back by imagining me fucking your juicy little cunt until you passed out, hence the drawings. I can’t believe that it’s really going to happen.”
She screamed out when Tony lunged forward and slammed the palm of his hand against her forehead. He then grabbed her
leg and pulled. “Save your pretty voice for later on, Miss, you’ll need it. Don’t worry, miss. Andy isn’t going to fuck you; he just wants to try out his new toys on your flesh. It won’t hurt, at least not at the beginning.” Tony rolled Caroline onto her back and sat on her stomach. “Andy says I can have a play once he’s finished with you.” He placed his hands on the woman’s breasts and squeezed. “Don’t worry though, although I do intend to act out all my fantasies on your broken body. I’m sure that you’ll enjoy yourself as much as I will.” He laughed. “I tell you, I can’t fucking wait.”
Chapter Fifteen
Amber kept hold of his hand while she pulled Dave through the dark labyrinth of tunnels. He glanced behind and moaned at the sight of Max lagging behind. It looked as though the man’s almost superhuman virility did have a limit. “Wait on, Amber,” he whispered. Dave let go of the girl’s hand, turned around, and ran over to Max.
“What are you slowing down for?” he panted. “Come on, move those feet.” He felt Amber leaning over him. Dave grabbed the man’s arm and waited for Amber to grab the man on the over side. “Are you ready?”
Amber nodded. “We need to move,” she said. “They’re getting closer.”
Dave picked the man off the ground. He just nodded, Amber was right about the things gaining, and he could smell the bastards.
He picked up the pace, trying not to stumble over the river of tiny sharp stones beneath their feet. They carried the man along the tunnels which descended into what felt like the bowels of the earth.
“Oh fuck!”
Dave fell back against the sharp stones with Max landing on his feet; Amber had lost her grip and slipped down the slope. “Are you okay?”
“No, that bloody hurt.” Amber picked herself off the floor and limped towards them. “I’ll survive; it’s mainly my self-respect that was hurt.” Amber helped Max up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.”
